"Mark Reale, the founding guitarist of the legendary metal band RIOT, passed away Wednesday, January 25 in a San Antonio hospital due to complications of Crohn's disease — an ailment he has battled for most of his life. He was 56 years old.
Reale had reportedly been in a coma for the past two weeks after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage on January 11.
RIOT said in a statement: "To friends and fans of Mark Reale and RIOT, we are deeply saddened to confirm that Mark has lost his battle with a lifelong illness. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated by Mark's family, friends, and bandmates at this difficult time."
I was shocked when i heard the sad news couple of hours ago. I´ve been a fan since the 80s. Life has never been easy for Mark or the band but i hope that he can now rock in peace with Dio and the guys somewhere there.
The band released "Immortal Soul", one of the strongest albums of their long career, last year.
It was very sad news. The world lost a great musician. I'm doing a Metal Show starting on Wednesday and on the second Show I play one of Riot's as tribute.
Maybe he and Dio and Cliff Burton and Randy Rhodes and Gar Samuelson are out there somewhere and going to write an album.
